By The Atlantic Digest, Diaspora Desk | Breaking News, Tuesday Edition
A senior U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer has been arrested and charged after federal investigators say he ran a six-year, cash-for-immigration-benefits scheme out of USCIS’s Dallas Field Office, personally taking in roughly $1.7 million to approve green cards, family petitions and citizenship applications — many of them, according to the FBI, filed by Nigerian nationals who would not otherwise have qualified. The officer, Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a Nigerian-American, was arrested September 2 alongside an alleged co-conspirator, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye. Both face federal charges. Ganiyu, through his attorney, denies any criminal conduct.
WHO WAS ARRESTED
Ganiyu held the position of Senior Immigration Services Officer (ISO2) at USCIS’s Dallas Field Office, a role that gave him direct authority within the agency’s Electronic Immigration System to adjudicate applications. Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas allege he used that access, between December 2019 and March 2026, to approve immigration benefits for applicants in exchange for money — bypassing the interviews, background checks and supervisory reviews that are supposed to stand between an application and an approval.
HOW THE SCHEME ALLEGEDLY WORKED
According to the criminal complaint, Ganiyu did not simply cut corners on cases already assigned to him; investigators say he actively assigned himself applications outside his normal jurisdiction so he could control the outcome, and in some instances approved benefits for individuals who had other pending or disqualifying matters before USCIS at the time. The forms investigators say were manipulated span the core of the U.S. family and naturalization immigration pipeline: Form I-130 petitions for alien relatives, Form I-485 applications to adjust status to permanent residence, Form I-751 petitions to remove conditions on residency for those who obtained green cards through marriage, and Form N-400 applications for citizenship. The FBI says “many of the beneficiaries were not eligible for the immigration benefits they received under federal law” — meaning the scheme did not merely speed up legitimate approvals, but delivered outcomes some applicants should not have received at all, a detail that raises the prospect of future revocation proceedings against people who paid for and received status through Ganiyu.
THE MONEY TRAIL
Investigators traced roughly $959,000 in identifiable payments into Ganiyu’s accounts — about $287,830 in cash deposits they could not attribute to any legitimate source, and a further $671,438 moved through Zelle, Cash App and direct bank transfers — with the FBI attributing additional untraced cash to the scheme to arrive at the approximately $1.7 million total figure cited in the complaint. The sums stand out against Ganiyu’s reported USCIS salary of about $407,838 across 2020 through 2025, a gap prosecutors point to directly, noting he reported no other employment. Individual payments described in the complaint ranged from roughly $37,000 to $40,000 per case. Investigators identified at least eight specific beneficiaries through phone and bank records, including a person identified as “M.N.,” who is alleged to have paid $40,000 covering an I-130 petition for a family member and applications for three children; a person identified as “Charles A.,” alleged to have paid $37,000 personally plus a further $4,500 routed through his company; and a woman identified as “Mariam Nyar,” whose I-130 petition and application for permanent residence were approved through the scheme.
THE CO-DEFENDANT WHO ALLEGEDLY BENEFITED TWICE
Adeniyi Akeem Somoye is charged alongside Ganiyu and is alleged to have played a dual role — both as a paying beneficiary and as a facilitator who helped route other applicants’ money to Ganiyu. Prosecutors say Somoye personally paid approximately $160,292 covering his own naturalization and family-related applications, and that Ganiyu illegally approved Somoye’s own citizenship application in December 2022, bypassing the standard process in the same way as the other cases. Investigators say the two communicated through thousands of WhatsApp messages and hundreds of phone calls, evidence prosecutors are expected to rely on heavily at trial.
HOW IT UNRAVELED
The scheme came to light after USCIS received an internal allegation in May 2025 that Ganiyu was processing certain applicants’ cases outside normal agency practice — a tip that triggered a joint investigation by USCIS’s own Office of Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, and the FBI’s Dallas Field Office. That investigation culminated in a criminal complaint filed August 31, 2026, and the arrests of both men on September 2. Both made initial appearances in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that day.
THE CHARGES
Both Ganiyu and Somoye face a single federal count each of conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official — a charge distinct from, though related in the public conversation to, bribery or fraud statutes, and one that carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine per defendant if convicted. Neither man has been convicted of anything at this stage, and the allegations in a criminal complaint represent the government’s case, not a proven set of facts.
WHAT OFFICIALS ARE SAYING
Announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas framed the case in blunt terms: “Selling immigration benefits for cash is a blatant abuse of public trust,” he said, pledging continued enforcement against public officials who monetize their positions within the immigration system. FBI investigators, in court filings, pointed to the “multiple unattributable cash deposits” moving through Ganiyu’s accounts and said he “received funds from numerous individuals” who had applications pending before him at the time.
THE DEFENSE
Ganiyu’s attorney, Alfonso Cabanas, pushed back on the government’s account on his client’s behalf, saying Ganiyu “denies any criminal conduct” and disputing the characterization of the financial transactions and immigration approvals described in the complaint. No statement from an attorney representing Somoye had been made public as of this report.
WHY THIS MATTERS BEYOND ONE DALLAS OFFICE
For Nigerian immigrant communities in the United States, a case like this cuts two ways. On one hand, it is a story of an insider — a Nigerian-American USCIS officer — allegedly monetizing exactly the kind of discretionary power that legitimate applicants spend years navigating honestly, and doing so in a way the FBI says specifically funneled ineligible approvals to Nigerian nationals, a detail likely to draw uncomfortable scrutiny onto Nigerian applications generally at an agency already known for extensive vetting. On the other, it raises a harder question for the people who paid: if the FBI’s account holds up in court, an unknown number of green card and citizenship approvals tied to Ganiyu could face review or rescission, potentially unwinding status for beneficiaries who may or may not have known the process they went through was compromised. Neither USCIS nor DHS has indicated publicly, as of this report, how many approved cases are under review as a result of the investigation, or what process affected beneficiaries might face.
Editorial note: This report is based on the criminal complaint filed August 31, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and on statements attributed to the FBI, DHS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office as relayed across multiple outlets, paired with the denial issued on Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu’s behalf by his attorney, per Atlantic Digest sourcing standards. Both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law; the allegations described here reflect the government’s charging documents and have not been proven. The Atlantic Digest has not independently reviewed the underlying complaint and will update this report as the case proceeds through court.
